EU budget should be cut in these austere times

EU's swelling budget

6:59AM GMT 01 Nov 2012

SIR – You report (October 31) that Labour has called for real-term cuts in the EU budget, whereas David Cameron is prepared to see the budget rise in line with inflation.

In order to deal with our deficit and debt, government spending is rightly being slashed, and most of the population is seeing real incomes decline. As is the case in most of the member states of the EU.

So why should the EU's financial requirements be exempt? Not only should we not pay more into this wasteful organisation, but the British contribution to the budget should be at least cut by the same percentage as overall government spending.

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In a lecture in May this year in Oxford, I said that a referendum "should not be held as a panicky electoral response to the rise of Ukip, as I fear might be David Cameron's inclination". On October 20, on the BBC's Week in Westminster programme, I repeated this view.

Of course, if Britain were ever to reconsider its relationship to a successfully revamped eurozone, the British people would need to determine the matter.

We need a serious debate about Europe's future, and I believe the burden is now on the pro-Europeans to make the case for Britain's continued relationship. Britain's long-term interests, in Europe and the world, should be our lodestar, not short-term tactical or political opportunism.

Lord Mandelson London SW1

SIR – Brussels is not insisting that Britain let all European migrants claim benefits (report, October 12).

Migrants moving from one EU country to another cannot get benefits there unless they pass a "habitual residence test". In practice, this means most of those who pass the test have worked and paid taxes in the host country, or are direct family members of someone working.

Through its additional "right to reside" test, Britain is denying benefits to people entitled to them – and breaking the EU rules it agreed with other member states.

We are not talking about "benefit tourism". EU law provides safeguards against that. EU migrants who cannot show means of support are not entitled to remain in Britain for the long term.

The commission is asking Britain to apply EU law. If it fails to do so, the commission will consider whether to take the case to the European Court of Justice.

László Andor European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Brussels

Get it white

SIR – It was enlightening to read that David Cameron hires his white tie and tails (Mandrake, October 30). It was not, however, entirely surprising. The Prime Minister suffers from a malady common among the wealthy, which causes them to disregard the rules of formal dress.

Despite possessing the means to have evening dress tailored, Mr Cameron insists on appearing at state banquets looking as though he is wearing someone else's waistcoat. Etiquette dictates it ought not extend below the flaps of the tailcoat, but Mr Cameron's does so by three inches.

Mitt Romney, the presidential candidate, displayed the same wardrobe malfunction at the Waldorf Astoria last week.

Paul Nizinskyj Founder, The White Tie Club Sheffield

Economic recovery

SIR – I seem to have heard this story before from Lord Heseltine (“Heseltine’s grand plan to win economic war”, October 31). “Growth strategy councils” and “regionalisation” didn’t work then, and they won’t work now.

What is needed is less government, lower taxes and more freedom for enterprise to flourish. Less involvement with the non-trading aspects of the EU would also help growth. It’s a good idea, though, to have the Government make a decision on airports, and then let business get on with it.

Huw Wynne-Griffith London W8

Savoy’s Scottish bard

SIR – The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy (Letters, October 31) houses the remains of Gavin Douglas. This Scottish bishop and poet gave the English-speaking world its first, and finest, translation of Virgil’s Aeneid, in 1513. Political events obscured its importance at the time, and the Scots-English language he uses has made it tricky for modern readers to handle.

Douglas died an exile in London in 1522. When I last visited the Savoy Chapel, his memorial plaque was hidden by a carpet. Perhaps that has now been removed.

Gordon KendalAlyth, Perthshire

Timely habits

SIR – When clocks are altered on Easter Sunday (Letters, October 30), I tell my congregation that services will be held at GMT, not BST, and that they should not change their clocks until the afternoon.

Alas, there are those who do not understand why we do not have services an hour later every Easter Sunday.

It becomes more imperative, therefore, that the Government take action to require farmers to grow trees at intervals in their hedgerows. This would enhance the beauty of the countryside, support wildlife and provide some insurance against future catastrophes.

Without legislation, we may one day be without hedgerow trees, simply because growing trees in hedgerows causes farmers a little inconvenience.

Mike ColeBridgwater, Somerset

SIR – Yesterday, I spent half an hour weeding in my vegetable garden. In that time, I dug up at least 10 ash seedlings in an area of a square metre.

Why do we need to import ash seedlings when they grow like unwanted weeds?

Alex BoltonSturminster Newton, Dorset

Heath’s home should be preserved for posterity

SIR – We should not see our past only through the lives of the likes of Winston Churchill and Benjamin Disraeli (Letters, October 31). Edward Heath may be unfashionable now, especially in his own eurosceptic Tory party, but the closure of Arundells will deny to later generations an irreplaceable piece of social history.

A hundred years from now, a short walk from Salisbury Cathedral would have given visitors an insight into one talented man’s life in the latter half of the 20th century. He was an English grammar school boy who became a master yachtsman, a concert organist, and an international statesman and prime minister, all attractively displayed in the memorabilia in Arundells.

We should do better at conserving our precious history.

Tony CrabbSunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex

SIR – Justice would at last be done if Arundells, Edward Heath’s home during his latter years, were to be transferred under charitable auspices to the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury. It should never have left their possession in the first place.

Having become their tenant, Heath then forced them to sell the house to him in the Nineties, exploiting without scruple new legislation passed by a Tory government, which he professed to regard with contempt. He loved boasting of his victory over the Cathedral.

Heath took the property from the Cathedral against its will, without the resources to provide for its long-term future, as his trustees made clear to him before his death. It should be handed back.

Lord LexdenLondon SW1

SIR – I doubt that a charge to enter the close where the late Edward Heath’s home is located would raise sufficient revenue to maintain his house (Letters, October 30).

Heath’s main hobbies were the piano and sailing. A house full of maritime art and associated artefacts would be of little interest to anyone who did not share his taste, so it is not surprising that visitor numbers have declined.

Some people may regard his gesture to bequeath his home to the nation commendable, however he was not a popular prime minister, and many voters were relieved when his term ended.